The HIV Coverage, Quality, and Impact Network (CQUIN) is a multi-country learning network designed to accelerate the implementation of high-quality differentiated service delivery for HIV. CQUIN’s goal is to increase the number of people living with HIV initiating and sustaining highly effective HIV treatment with sustained viral suppression.

Find out more at cquin.icap.columbia.edu

ICAP is undertaking a cross-sectional facility-based SARS-CoV-2 prevalence study to assess and estimate the prevalence of symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection among children 5 years and older and adults in health facilities in Malawi.

Fourteen health facilities across eight districts have been purposively selected in partnership with the Ministry of Health and the U.S. Centers pf Disease Control, based on where community transmission is likely occurring as well as attempting to achieve some level of representativeness across the eight districts in all three regions.

Funded by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emergency International Task Force (ITF) funds, ICAP has launched an Infection Prevention Control (IPC) Community of Practice in East Africa to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through building a robust south-to-south learning network the next twenty-seven months, the project seeks to enhance the capacity of hospital-based IPC Focal Points to support compliance with IPC standards in facilities across the continent. The IPC Community of Practice will include rapid training on COVID-19-related IPC, skills building and mentorship, and supportive supervision for IPC QI projects.

In Malawi, ICAP is conducting a sentinel surveillance activity of COVID-19 in 14 facilities across Malawi, targeting both asymptomatic and symptomatic children (>5 years) and adults. We are also randomly selecting and testing 2000 staff at these 14 health facilities.

ICAP is providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health to conduct the second Malawi Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (MPHIA) 2020 survey to assess HIV prevalence, incidence, and access to HIV prevention, care, and treatment services. The survey includes household-based interviews, HIV counseling, and HIV testing for individuals 15 years and older. Funded by PEPFAR though CDC, the survey findings will be used to assess the impact of Malawi’s HIV response at the national level and help guide future investments and programming.

The first MPHIA survey was conducted from November 2015-August 2016.

MPHIA 2015-16 Summary Sheet

MPHIA 2015-16 Final Report

Find out more at phia.icap.columbia.edu/malawi

Through the Quality Improvement Capacity for Impact Project (QICIP), ICAP provides ministries of health and local partners with technical assistance that enables them to monitor program performance, identify quality challenges, explore root causes, develop targeted interventions, and conduct rapid, iterative tests of change in programs supported by PEPFAR.

Malawi is taking part in a quality improvement for differentiated service delivery project.

Find out more on the QICIP Project Page

ICAP has launched a multi-country emergency response training initiative to prepare health care workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 response, funded by Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies.

The trainings will build the competence and confidence of frontline HCW to safely identify, report and support people with COVID-19, implement effective infection prevention and control (IPC) activities, and serve as a trusted source of reliable information for communities impacted by the pandemic.

The Global Nurse Capacity Building Program (GNCBP) was a multi-year program (2009-2018) to increase the quantity and quality of the nursing and midwifery workforce by addressing seven domains of health workforce development: infrastructure, curriculum, faculty, clinical skills, production, in-service training, and partnership for policy and regulation.

The program used a holistic approach to strengthen nursing and midwifery education and practice through two complementary sub-projects: the Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI), which expanded the health workforce by producing new nurses and midwives, and the General Nursing (GN) project, which supported the maintenance of a skilled health workforce through continuing professional development in support of HIV care and treatment.

GNCBP was administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), under the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, with funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Find the GNCBP final report here

Find out more about NEPI and General Nursing

ICAP partnered with Malawi’s Ministry of Health to strengthen HIV rapid testing quality assurance efforts by developing guidelines, indicators, and tools for implementing and monitoring retesting procedures for HIV positive individuals prior to ART initiation. The initiative was funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).